Secrets and Surprises
by cleotheo
Summary: When Dumbledore introduces a new initiative in his seventh year house unity class, secrets are revealed about the Head Girl - Hermione Granger.


**A/N- story is set in 7th year. Voldemort was defeated in 6th year, Dumbledore didn't die and Draco wasn't involved with Death Eaters.**

**Italics represent Hermione's memories.**

* * *

Professor Dumbledore sat behind the desk in his classroom, watching as the seventh year Gryffindor and Slytherin students began arriving, reluctantly taking their seats. Dumbledore was enjoying teaching again after so many years, even if he wasn't teaching a magical subject on the school curriculum. After the fall of Lord Voldemort the previous year Dumbledore had decided the best way to avoid future conflicts would be to achieve unity between the four houses, so one of the things he had done was start a new class, Unity Studies.

Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff's took the class together as did Gryffindor's and Slytherin's. Dumbledore felt the most hostility was between Gryffindor and Slytherin so it was most beneficial to have these two houses in class together. Instead of allowing students to sit anywhere they wanted Dumbledore had devised a seating plan, in which each table of two held a student from both houses, needless to say this wasn't the most popular thing.

Instead of learning magic, the class was solely designed for the students to get to know one another and learn about each other's lives. Dumbledore felt the class was currently being appreciated more by the Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's, there was still a lot of tension in his current class. He felt a lot of the problem's stemmed from the Head Boy and Head Girl who were both in this class and refused to set an example by getting along. It had been an easy choice for Dumbledore picking the head students as the two top students fit into his plans for house unity perfectly, one being a Gryffindor while the other was a Slytherin.

Dumbledore watched as the Head Boy, Draco Malfoy, entered the room with his gang of Slytherin's, they were closely followed by the Head Girl, Hermione Granger, and her friends. Dumbledore observed disappointedly as the two Head students sat down at their shared desk ignoring the other's presence, he had originally hoped the pair would become friends. He was sure over the years, despite the arguing there was something more between them, alas nothing more than frosty acceptance between them seemed to have occurred.

"Good afternoon, class." Dumbledore greeted, standing and walking in front of his desk. "Today I'm going to perform a spell so we can see what it's like to be one specific person for a day."

With a flick of his wand the wall behind him, turned plain white. "On this wall we will watch someone's day unfold. We will watch their interactions with friends and find out how they spend their time."

The class of seventh years looked at Dumbledore as though he had gone mad, which was a real possibility with him.

"Right, the student I have picked is the Head Girl, Miss Granger. We will see how she spent the previous Saturday."

"NO." The whole class turned to looked at Hermione, who had just yelled at the Headmaster.

"Is there a problem Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked quietly. "I was hoping the Head Girl would set an example."

"I just think it's an awful disregard to people's privacy." Hermione answered weakly. "I don't like the idea of everyone seeing how I spend my private time."

"Why? What embarrassing thing's does the Gryffindor Princess get up to?" came the voice of Theo Nott from the back of the classroom.

"Quiet, Mr Nott." Dumbledore told the Slytherin. "Miss Granger, this is only a problem if you have something to hide, which I'm sure is not the case. I'm sure there's nothing that's going to embarrass you."

Hermione opened and closed her mouth a few times, she was aware there was nothing she could say to convince Dumbledore not to go ahead with his crazy scheme. Hermione knew she was in trouble, if she argued everyone would wonder what she was hiding and if she agreed everyone would find out her big secret. Trying to decide what to do Hermione snuck a glance at the blond boy sitting next to her, he was wearing his usual smirk and when he noticed Hermione looking at him he nodded slightly. Hermione took the nod to mean let Dumbledore do what he wants, it was clear he was planning to enjoy the show.

"Miss Granger, would you be so kind as to stand up." Dumbledore asked the brunette witch, who slowly got to her feet. Dumbledore waved his wand slightly over Hermione and extracted a silvery ball from the side of her head, which he placed in a jar.

"You may sit back down now. Thank you." He told Hermione who sank into her seat.

"Does everyone understand how a pensieve works?" Dumbledore asked his class who all nodded, "Well this works on a bigger scale, unlike a pensieve this shows more than one memory, it shows a whole day's worth. It doesn't show every minute but it will show enough so we can all get a clear idea how Miss Granger spent her day."

Dumbledore moved so he was standing at the back of the classroom, by this point Hermione had put her head on the desk so she wouldn't have to cope with what her classmates were about to see.

"This is going to be good, Granger's already embarrassed and we haven't even started yet." Theo Nott called, causing laughter among some of the Slytherin's.

"Settle down, now. I expect you all to remain quiet and observe the going's on, we will have a discussion after. Right let's begin." Dumbledore pointed his wand at the jar on his desk and the silver ball of Hermione's memories floated towards the plain wall and with a flash went into the wall and was replaced a vision of the Great Hall. The students sat and watched the wall as Hermione's day began to unfold before them.

* * *

_Hermione walked into the Great Hall, and headed for the Gryffindor table where her friends were waiting for her. _

"_Hi, Guys." Hermione said greeting her friends._

"_Hey, 'Mione." Ron said barely pausing in stuffing sausage's into his mouth._

"_Ugh, Ron. Eat what's in your mouth before stuffing more in, it's totally disgusting." Ginny said, wrinkling her nose in distaste at her brother's table manners._

"_Hey, 'Mione are you coming to the match this morning?" Harry asked. "We're going to thrash Slytherin."_

"_Yes Harry, I'm coming. And you shouldn't be so cocky, Slytherin might surprise you." Hermione told her friend while she buttered her toast._

"_Nah, Slytherin's rubbish. Malfoy will never catch the snitch." Ron said, swallowing his food this time before speaking, earning an approving nod from Ginny._

"_You never know, it could be his year." Hermione responded, sending the boys into a panic._

_Ron and Harry then launched into a detailed discussion on whether they actually thought Malfoy stood a chance of catching the snitch. _

_Laughing at her friends Hermione turned to Ginny. "You're awfully dressed up for a Quidditch day, normally you just where jeans and a t-shirt. Trying to get someone's attention are we?"_

_Ginny blushed and nodded at Hermione. "I don't think it's working though, I'm invisible to him."_

"_Ginny, I very much doubt you're invisible to him, you're gorgeous." Hermione reassured her friend._

"_Right, we have to leave and get ready. I want an extra-long team talk, we have to beat Slytherin." Harry said getting up and gesturing for Ron and Ginny to accompany him. "See you later, Hermione. Enjoy the game."_

"_Oh, I will." Hermione smirked. "Good luck."_

_Harry, Ron and Ginny exited the hall leaving Hermione alone with her breakfast._

* * *

"Granger's up to something." Theo Nott stated, watching breakfast at the Gryffindor table.

The entire class ignored Theo and watched as the wall rippled, changing scene.

* * *

_Hermione was walking down towards the Quidditch pitch, she stopped just outside the entrance and stood watching a sixth year Ravenclaw take bets on the match from under the stands. Hermione waited to the boy was alone before approaching him, upon seeing the Head Girl the Ravenclaw started stuttering an explanation._

"_You're not in trouble." Hermione told the boy. "I just want to place a bet on the match."_

"_Okay, how much?" The Ravenclaw asked._

"_Ten Galleons." Hermione replied removing the money from her pocket._

_The Ravenclaw took the money off Hermione. "Okay, ten galleons on Gryffindor to win."_

"_No," Hermione stopped him. "I'm betting on Slytherin."_

* * *

"What, this can't be true. 'Mione would never bet on the snakes." Ron's outraged voice filled the classroom, distracting people's attention form the screen.

"Looks like she did, loser." Came Pansy Parkinson's shrill voice.

"Quiet." Boomed Dumbledore. "Continue watching please."

* * *

_The Ravenclaw boy stared at Hermione for several minutes before finally finding his voice. "You're betting against your own house. You're supporting Slytherin."_

_Hermione nodded. "Yes, if I'm betting ten galleons I want to win."_

"_Do you want the bet to be a straight win for Slytherin or a win with Malfoy catching the snitch." The boy asked, recovering enough to sort the bet out._

"_The straight win." Hermione told the boy._

"_So you don't want to put any money on Malfoy catching the snitch." The Ravenclaw asked confused, surely the only way Slytherin would win was if the snitch was caught._

"_No, I've already told you I plan on winning. I won't win anything if I bet on Malfoy catching the snitch."_

_The Ravenclaw looked at Hermione as if she'd gone mad, she was betting on a Slytherin win but not Malfoy catching the snitch. "Fine, have it your way. Ten galleons on a Slytherin win."_

* * *

"I don't believe it, Granger had inside information. She knew Malfoy wasn't playing seeker." Theo shouted.

The Slytherin's in the room were intrigued by the Gryffindor Princess backing their house while the Gryffindor's were shooting Hermione dirty looks. Hermione however was oblivious as she still had her head on the table knowing things were about to get worse.

* * *

"_What do we have here, The Gryffindor Golden Girl betting on Slytherin."_ _A voice behind Hermione said as the Ravenclaw student departed to take his seat for the game._

"_What do you want Zabini?" Hermione asked, turning to face the Italian._

"_Nothing, just wondering what Potter and Weasley would think of this turn of events?" The Slytherin mused._

"_Harry and Ron won't think anything, because they're not going to know anything about this." Hermione said turning to enter the stadium._

"_They might if I accidentally let slip what I've just witnessed." Blaise threatened. "And imagine what would happen if they happened to discover you big secret."_

_Hermione turned quickly to face the smirking Slytherin. "You wouldn't do it for two reasons, one If you did I wouldn't help you with your problem. And two I would tell Lavender Brown, the biggest gossip in school, your big secret, blowing your stud reputation away."_

_Blaise glared at the Gryffindor. "You're bluffing. How would you explain your knowledge about my secret and as for helping me with my problem you're not exactly doing much are you."_

"_First off Zabini, I was planning on solving your problem tonight." Hermione told the Slytherin, smirking at him. "And as for your secret that's easy to explain. I happen to share a dorm with your best friend and I may have overheard you talking to him about it"_

"_That's evil. Would you really do that?"_

"_That all depends, Zabini. You keep your mouth shut about the bet and the other thing and you get a hot date tonight and your reputation stays intact." Hermione smirked. "You open your mouth and tell, I ruin any chances you may of had with a certain redhead and the whole school finds out your sex god reputation is a lie and you're really a virgin."_

* * *

At this revelation the whole classroom was suddenly awash with shouting and laughter. Dumbledore waved his wand pausing the images on the wall.

"Settle down." Dumbledore called the class to order. "Quiet. Mr Zabini are you okay with carrying on?"

"This is so embarrassing." Blaise Zabini muttered from his desk where he was holding his head in his hands. "Yes you can carry on I don't think Granger is going to embarrass me any more."

"Miss Granger are you okay to continue?" Dumbledore asked the Head Girl who was still sitting with her head on the desk.

"Sure why not." Hermione replied sarcastically, looking up. "It's not like it gets worse than betting on Slytherin to win the Quidditch. Oh wait it does."

Dumbledore smiled slightly at the turn of events, it seemed Hermione had more contact with the Slytherin's than he realised. "Good, good, let's press on."

The class then watched as Hermione made her way into the stadium and entered the Gryffindor stand, sitting down next to Neville Longbottom.

* * *

"_Hermione, you're just in time. The teams are about to come out." Neville said as Hermione took her seat._

_A second later the Gryffindor stand erupted as the Gryffindor Quidditch team flew out onto the pitch, led by their captain Harry Potter. After the noise had died down slightly, the Slytherin team flew onto the pitch led by their captain, Draco Malfoy, to loud cheers from their house. _

"_Oh, my god, there's two girls on the Slytherin team." Lavender Brown squealed from somewhere to the right of Hermione. The Slytherin Quidditch team was usually an all male team._

_Hermione watched as Madam Hooch made the two captains, Harry and Draco, shake hands before getting their teams into their starting positions._

"_Shit," Hermione heard Dean Thomas say from nearby. "Have you seen the way Slytherin are lining up, Malfoy's not playing seeker."_

_Sure enough above the pitch Malfoy was lining up in a chaser's position, next to the two female players, while a small brown haired boy was lining up as seeker._

"_Damn, this is bad." Seamus Finnegan said._

"_Why?" Hermione questioned._

"_Because all of our plans revolve around Harry beating Malfoy to the snitch." Dean, who sometimes played as reserve for the team, explained. _

"_Well, that's just stupid. You should plan for all seven players not just one." Hermione exclaimed as Madam Hooch blew the whistle starting the match._

_The Gryffindor players were as confused as the Gryffindor spectators and as such made a sluggish start to the match, as soon as Madam Hooch blew the whistle and released the quaffle, Draco grabbed the ball and flew uninterrupted towards the goal and casually scored._

_Over the course of the next ten minutes, Slytherin had scored another six times, four of those courtesy of Draco._

"_This is bad," Neville said worriedly. "Ron's totally distracted by the Slytherin girls, so he's allowing Malfoy to keep scoring." Dean and Seamus both nodded in agreement. _

"_Harry needs to catch the snitch soon before this gets out of hand." Dean said._

_Unfortunately for Harry he couldn't seem to spot the snitch and after fifty five minutes of play Slytherin were so far ahead even catching the snitch wouldn't win Gryffindor the game._

_Ten minutes later while Slytherin were still too far in the lead for a catch to matter, Neville suddenly drew attention to Harry, who had not been involved in the game too much._

"_Look at Harry he's spotted the snitch." Neville shouted pointing to the Gryffindor seeker who was hurtling towards the ground._

_While most of the spectators were watching Harry, Hermione turned to watch the Slytherin seeker, just as he was about to follow Harry, Draco called his name and shook his head at the boy. Watching Draco, Hermione spotted a flicker of gold around his right ear, the Slytherin seeker obviously had as well for he suddenly flew right towards his captain, making Draco flip upside down on his broom. As Draco righted himself on his broom and was about to shout at the young boy, Madam Hooch blew her whistle as the Slytherin seeker held the tiny golden snitch over his head._

"_Thompson's caught the snitch. Slytherin win." Came the amplified voice of the commentator, shocking the Gryffindors into silence._

"_How? Harry was going for the snitch?" A bemused first year, sitting in front of Hermione asked._

"_It was a trick, he was trying to lure the Slytherin seeker." Another first year explained._

_Hermione made her way down to the pitch with Neville, Dean and Seamus to commiserate with her fellow house mates._

* * *

On the wall as Hermione consoled Harry, Ron and Ginny, the class was quietly gossiping about what they had seen. Quiet descended as the wall rippled changing scenes.

* * *

_Hermione stood watching the boy from Ravenclaw whom she had placed her bet with dealing with his small handful of winners, mostly young Slytherin's. she waited till the last one had left before approaching._

"_I've come to collect my winnings." She smiled at the boy._

"_You knew." He accused. "That's why you didn't want to bet on Malfoy catching the snitch, you knew he wasn't playing seeker."_

"_Are you accusing me of cheating?" The Head Girl asked. _

"_No." The Ravenclaw quickly backed down seeing the look on Hermione's face. Quickly he handed her a bag of galleons. "There you go."_

"_Thank you." Hermione said and turned and started to walk away._

* * *

Professor Dumbledore paused the image. "Mr Nott do you have something you wish to say." He asked the Slytherin, who had been muttering quietly throughout the last few minutes of viewing.

"Yes, I'm wondering if you're planning on punishing Granger for betting with inside information."

"Friendly wagers are quite fun, and there is no proof Miss Granger knew about Slytherin's tactical changes." Dumbledore said, quite happy with what was starting to occur in the lesson.

"Of course she did, why else would she back Slytherin." Lavender shouted from her seat near the window.

Dumbledore walked to the front of the classroom where Hermione was sitting having put her head back on the table.

"Well Miss Granger, did you have inside information?"

Hermione looked up. "Would it matter if I had? Just because I may have known about certain changes to the line-up of the Slytherin team, didn't mean they would win. I still took a chance."

"Good point Miss Granger." Dumbledore nodded appreciatively, wondering exactly how the Head Girl came to possess such knowledge of the Slytherin Quidditch team.

"Let's move on then, there's no time to waste." Dumbledore said as he made his way to his place at the back of the room.

The entire class, bar Hermione, sat eagerly awaiting the next part of the viewing, watching how Hermione spent her day was proving quite surprising to many.

* * *

"_I wish you lot would cheer up, it's only a game for crying out loud." Hermione moaned as she entered Gryffindor tower with her friends._

"_It's more than a game 'Mione. Quidditch is vital to a wizard's existence." Ron sighed dramatically, throwing himself into a chair by the fire._

"_Nonsense Ronald." Hermione tutted, sitting on the settee next to Ginny. "Do you three plan on doing anything other than sulk this afternoon?"_

"_Nope," Harry replied from his seat. "We're going to sulk all afternoon and sulk all night at what should have been our victory party."_

"_Those things are so fun, I'm sorry I'll be missing it." Said Hermione sarcastically._

"_You're not coming to the party tonight?" Ginny questioned shocked, Gryffindor always held a party after Quidditch matches whether the team won or lost._

"_No, I've got other plans which involve you, Gin." Hermione told the redhead._

"_What plans?" Ron questioned. "Why aren't Harry and I involved in your plans."_

"_Oh, I'm sorry Ron, I didn't realise you and Harry wanted to spend a girly night talking about clothes and boys." Hermione said, chuckling at the looks of horror that appeared on her two best friends faces._

"_That's alright Hermione. Me and Ron are fine at the party." Harry hastily told his friend._

_Hermione hung out with her friends in Gryffindor Tower a while before standing up to leave._

"_I'm off now guys, have fun at your party." She told Harry and Ron before turning to Ginny. "Gin, come to the Head dorms at six."_

_The redhead nodded as Hermione left._

* * *

Dumbledore looked around the class to find almost all the students seemed riveted by the drama on the wall, the only people not paying attention were Hermione, who wasn't watching, Ron, who kept shooting Hermione confused looks and Draco who seemed to be watching intermittently. Dumbledore noticed Draco look at the wall as the scene rippled and changed.

* * *

_Hermione entered the Head dorms to find the Head Boy and his friend, Blaise Zabini, sitting on the settee talking. Upon hearing her enter the room both Slytherin's turned to look at Hermione, Blaise looking unsure how to act after their earlier conversation. Hermione smiled at him letting him know she wasn't still angry._

"_So Granger, come to show off your winnings." Blaise smirked, relieved the Head Girl wasn't holding any grudges._

"_Winnings?" Draco inquired._

"_Yeah, before the match today Granger bet on Slytherin to win." Blaise informed his friend._

"_Really, you bet against your own house?" Draco asked Hermione. "How much did you win?"_

"_I don't know I didn't count it?" Hermione shrugged, pulling a coin bag from her jeans pocket. "Why don't you." She said throwing the bag to the Slytherin._

_Draco caught the bag in mid-air and emptied it on to the coffee table in front of him. _

"_Impressive." He said swiftly counting it and returning it to the bag. "Must have been good odds."_

"_Of course there were, Slytherin doesn't normally beat Gryffindor." Hermione said, picking up the bag of money and replacing it in her pocket._

"_So Granger. Earlier you said you would help me with my problem tonight if I kept my mouth shut. Which I have by the way" Blaise said, eagerly looking at the brunette witch._

"_I did say that, I promised to help and tonight I will." Hermione smiled at Blaise. "I'll bring her tonight but the rest is up to you."_

"_Thanks Granger, you're the best." Blaise said standing and giving the Gryffindor a peck on the cheek. "Well I'll be off now."_

"_Wait a minute, where are you going?" Draco asked his best friend._

"_Weren't you paying attention, mate. I've got a hot date tonight, I've got to get ready." Blaise explained before rushing out the room muttering about clothes._

"_I swear he's such a girl sometimes." Draco muttered, leaning back against the settee._

"_Takes one to know one, Malfoy." Hermione smirked at the blond._

"_What's that supposed to mean?" _

"_Nothing, it's just that you take longer in the bathroom than most girls. You're incredibly vain." Hermione explained._

_Draco stood and walked over to where Hermione was standing. "What can I say, it takes a lot of work to look as good as I do, Granger."_

_Hermione laughed. "Please. We both know you look good naturally, the time spent in the bathroom is pure vanity."_

"_Careful Granger, people might think you actually like me." Draco winked at Hermione and turned and headed up the stairs towards his room._

_Smiling Hermione sat down at the table and summoning her books she began to study._

* * *

Dumbledore watched surprised by the interaction between the Head Boy and Girl, they were flirting with each other if he wasn't mistaken. Dumbledore listened to the quiet hum of students gossiping in the room, smiling as he saw Gryffindors and Slytherins interacting nicely with each other. Still gossiping amongst themselves, the students watched as the wall rippled slightly. It didn't change scenes just seemed to fast forward a few hours of Hermione studying.

"Still a bookworm, then." Lavender said, just loud enough for Hermione to hear her at her desk in the front of the room.

* * *

_Hermione sat studying, failing to notice when the Head Boy came down the stairs into the common room._

"_Have you spent all afternoon studying?" Draco asked, dropping a small white box onto the table next to Hermione._

"_Yes, you should try it sometime." Hermione retorted, barely looking up from her essay._

"_I study like a normal person, Granger. I don't spend most of my Saturday with my nose in a book." Draco said, watching the Gryffindor as she wrote furiously on her parchment. _

_Draco moved so he was standing behind Hermione, leaning down he moved her hair away from her neck so he could reach her ear._

"_You need a life, Granger." He purred into her ear, causing Hermione to shiver slightly._

"_I have a life, Malfoy." Hermione replied._

"_Sure you have," Draco said moving towards the door. "See you later, Granger."_

"_What time is it?" Hermione asked, suddenly aware Draco had been changed and was now wearing dark trousers with a dark green shirt._

"_Nearly six." Draco replied. "Why, running late?"_

_Hermione didn't answer, instead she started to tidy her books away. A knock on the door caused Hermione to look up from where she was packing her bag._

"_I'll get it." Draco said walking towards the door and opening it. _

"_Weaselette." He greeted, letting Ginny into the common room and exiting the room._

"_Ginny." Hermione called, attracting the redhead's attention, she had been staring after the blond Slytherin as he left the room._

"_Sorry." Ginny grinned. "I was enjoying the view."_

"_I didn't know Malfoy was your type." Hermione said casually._

"_He isn't." Ginny said, placing her bag onto the table. "What's going on Hermione? I got your note to bring something red and sexy. Sorry, but you're not my type either."_

_Hermione laughed. "The outfit isn't for my benefit. I've got you a date tonight, with a certain Slytherin."_

"_Are you serious? You've got me a date with Blaise Zabini." Ginny asked wide eyed._

_Hermione nodded and with a squeal, Ginny launched herself at her friend, wrapping her in a hug._

"_You're the best."_

"_Come on, let's get dressed." Hermione said, heading for her room. "We've got a party to attend."_

"_A party?" Ginny questioned. "Surely we're not going to a Slytherin party."_

"_Of course, where else would you find Blaise tonight." Hermione tutted._

* * *

"Hermione, how could you set my sister up with a snake and go to one of their parties." Ron yelled.

For the first time since her day had begun to be shown to the wall, Hermione turned round to face the class.

"Ginny was quite happy to be set up, Ronald." Hermione told her best friend.

"Yeah, that was obvious." Dean Thomas muttered, still bitter over his break up with Ginny the previous year.

"I think we should continue now." Dumbledore said, pleased house unity seemed to be taking effect, even if it was in secret. "Watch."

The class obeyed the Headmaster, turning back to the wall and viewing the scene which seemed to have moved on in time slightly.

* * *

"_I have a question." Ginny asked as she was walking into the heads common room from Hermione's bedroom._

_Ginny was wearing a tight, short red dress while Hermione was dressed in skin tight dark blue jeans and an emerald green top._

"_What?" Hermione said, adjusting the strap on her green sandals._

"_Won't two Gryffindor's stand out at a Slytherin party?" _

"_That's where these come in." Hermione explained, opening the small box Draco had left on the table earlier._

"_Masks?" Ginny asked, as Hermione pulled two extravagant masks out of the box, one was red while the other was emerald green._

"_Masks," Hermione nodded. "It's a Slytherin tradition to have a masked party every term. Tonight's is this term's party."_

"_How convenient." Ginny said, eyeing Hermione suspiciously. "Who decides which parties are the masked ones anyway?"_

_Hermione shrugged, non-committally. "Don't know."_

"_Sure you don't." Ginny muttered. "Bet you it was Malfoy."_

_Hermione turned to Ginny, raising her eyebrow in a questioning manner._

"_Please, I'm not blind like Ron and Harry." Ginny smirked._

* * *

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Ron shouted.

"What that means, is that even though you and Potter are blind when it comes to your golden girl, the rest of us aren't." Daphne Greengrass who was sitting beside Ron said.

Ron scowled in confusion.

"I think he needs it spelling out." Pansy laughed.

"What do they mean?" Ron asked, looking at Harry who looked just as bewildered as Ron.

"Boys. So blind" Lavender huffed, causing all the girls except Hermione to laugh.

Dumbledore watched in amusement, it seemed all the girls in class had noticed something regarding the head students that the male population hadn't. Watching Hermione's day it was clear there was something going on between the two head students, but until today Dumbledore himself hadn't even noticed it.

"Let's press on shall we, perhaps things will become clearer, Mr Weasley." Dumbledore said.

"I think it's perfectly clear." Pansy muttered, as the white wall flickered.

* * *

_Ginny and Hermione were standing in the dungeons outside the entrance to the Slytherin common room._

"_Are you sure about this?" Ginny asked, nervously fiddling with her red mask. "Will these masks hide our identity's?"_

"_You want a date with Blaise don't you?" Hermione questioned. _

_Ginny nodded her head._

"_Come on then." Hermione urged, giving the password and causing the stone wall to open up._

_Ginny and Hermione stepped into the bustling common room, loud music was playing and people were milling around wearing masks._

"_How will we find Blaise?" Ginny asked, looking at the large amount of people._

_Hermione smiled and taking hold of Ginny's hand, started to lead her through the throng of people towards the drinks table at the far end of the room. Once at the table, Hermione led Ginny towards two boys who were standing chatting, one was a tall black haired boy wearing a black mask while the other was clearly Malfoy wearing a silver and green mask, Ginny recognised his unique platinum blond hair._

"_Zabini." Hermione said, tapping the dark haired boy on his shoulder._

"_Granger, nice to see you." Blaise responded, turning to face the two Gryffindors._

"_Blaise this is Ginny. Ginny this is Blaise." Hermione said, introducing the Gryffindor and Slytherin._

"_It's a pleasure, you look enchanting, Miss Weasley." Blaise said, placing a kiss on Ginny's hand causing her to giggle._

"_Would you care for a drink?" He asked, shooting Ginny a huge smile._

"_Yes, please." Ginny smiled, letting Blaise lead her away from their friends._

* * *

"That was so corny." Seamus Finnegan laughed.

"It worked didn't it." Blaise argued, glaring at the Gryffindor. "I've now got a gorgeous girlfriend."

"There's no way, I'm letting you date my sister." Ron seethed.

"I'd like to see you try and stop me." Blaise laughed.

"That's quite enough, gentlemen." Dumbledore told the warring pair.

"Yeah, now we have to watch Granger and Malfoy get it on." Theo smirked.

Harry and Ron both looked outraged by the idea, but were surprised to see Hermione didn't correct the annoying Slytherin.

* * *

"_I can't believe Little Red fell for that, it was so cheesy." Draco groaned from behind Hermione._

"_It's called charm, Malfoy." Hermione told the blond, turning so she could see him. "Something you lack."_

"_I've got plenty of charm, Granger." Draco said. _

"_Really? I must have missed it." Hermione smiled. "You've obviously never tried to use it on me."_

"_I haven't." Draco smirked, removing his mask. "I don't need to charm you, Granger."_

"_Why not?" Hermione asked with a mock pout._

_Draco moved so he was standing extremely close to the Gryffindor._

"_I don't need to charm what's already mine." He said, wrapping his arm around Hermione's waist._

"_Whoever said I was yours." Hermione whispered, moving her head closer to the blond._

"_Me." Draco said, pulling Hermione against him and crushing his lips against hers._

* * *

The classroom exploded into whistles and catcalls as the group of students watched the Head Boy and Girl passionately kiss on the wall at the front of the classroom.

Dumbledore couldn't help the large smile that graced his face, it seemed house unity wasn't an impossibility if the two head students could become romantically involved with each other. Looking at the pair in question he noticed Draco was sitting quite relaxed enjoying the chaos that surrounded him whereas Hermione was looking embarrassed by the attention.

Dumbledore turned his attention to Harry and Ron, hoping they weren't going to cause trouble. Both Gryffindor's looked too shocked by events to speak.

Dumbledore flicked his wrist and the wall returned to its blank state.

"Well, I think that was very informative." Dumbledore said, walking to the front of the classroom.

"Yeah, we now all know what Malfoy and Granger get up to in the head dorms." Theo said, laughing. "Bet you any money they don't use both beds on a night."

Draco turned to glare at his fellow Slytherin, but before he could retort to Nott's comments, Dumbledore spoke.

"I hope we have all learnt not to judge a book by its cover." Dumbledore said. "There is clearly a lot more to Miss Granger's life than her studies."

"Yeah, snogging Slytherins." Lavender said, making a few people laugh.

Dumbledore held up his hands, silencing the class. "That's it for today, next week we will do the same to someone else, and find out more about their lives."

Dumbledore dismissed the class, watching in interest as Gryffindors and Slytherins chatted together about the events they had just witnessed. He also noticed that four students had failed to leave the room, instead they were all standing looking at each other.

"As it is lunch time, you may stay here and talk." Dumbledore told the students. "Remember, what house you're in shouldn't determine your friendships."

Dumbledore then left the classroom, leaving Ron and Harry to stare at the Head Boy and Girl who were standing next to each other. Awkward silence descended for a few minutes before Hermione spoke.

"I'm sorry, I didn't tell you." Hermione said to Harry and Ron. "Please don't hate me."

"We don't hate you." Harry said. "it's just a shock."

"Yeah, it's not really the best way to find out your best friend and sister are dating Slytherin's." Ron said, surprising Hermione with his calm reaction.

He had decided he didn't want to lose Hermione as his friend, and was worried if he over-reacted she might not speak to him again.

"So you're not mad?" Hermione asked, relieved she didn't have to fight with her friends.

"No, just don't expect us to be friends with him." Harry said, gesturing to Draco.

"Don't worry Potter, I've got plenty of friends of my own, I don't need Granger's." Draco said, trying not to sneer too much at the Gryffindor.

"Good." Ron said, moving towards the blond in a supposedly threatening manner. "If you hurt Hermione, you'll pay."

Draco had promised Hermione he would stop causing trouble with her friends, so he bit back the scathing response that was on the tip of his tongue. "I won't." he replied.

Satisfied Draco understood the consequences of hurting their friend, Harry and Ron headed off to lunch, Ron complaining that they might miss the food if they were much later.

"Come on, I'm hungry." Draco said, pulling Hermione out of the room, once her friends had left.

Hermione let Draco lead her to the Great Hall before stopping him just as he was about to open the doors.

"Doesn't it bother you, that we'll be the subject of all the gossip in there?" Hermione asked, uneasy with being gossiped about.

"It was always going to happen." Draco shrugged, totally unconcerned with being the subject of gossip. "Come on, where's you Gryffindor courage."

Draco pushed open the doors and together they entered the Great Hall. Immediately all the conversation died down and the whole room turned to look at the head students as they entered the room.

"Maybe we should give them something to really talk about." Draco said, giving Hermione an evil grin.

Before Hermione could protest, her boyfriend pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply in front of the whole school. Hermione couldn't help but respond, wrapping her arms tightly around Draco's neck.

Their very public display of affection caused the room to erupt in noise, as both students and staff gossiped about Hogwarts newest couple.

Breaking their kiss, Draco smirked at Hermione before sauntering away to the Slytherin table. Blushing violently, Hermione hurried to the Gryffindor table where she was immediately bombarded with questions.

After spending her entire lunch answering questions about Draco and their relationship, Hermione headed to the door to leave for her next class, Potions. Once at the door, she was met by Draco who smiled at her and took her hand in his.

Walking to Potions with Draco in public was a new experience for Hermione, one she found herself enjoying. Perhaps Professor Dumbledore had done her a favour in accidentally revealing her relationship, now she could be seen with Draco in public.

Arriving at Potions, Hermione thought she would have to thank the headmaster, he had made her life much less complicated.


End file.
